not2sharp
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Licking their bear wounds
Daily Record (Morris County, NJ) ^ | 5-26-03 | Michael Daigle
WEST MILFORD -- In retrospect, Robert Skrypek said Sunday, jumping on the back of a black bear that was fighting with his golden retriever might not have been the best thing to do. But at the time, there was no other good option.
"It's like the reaction people have when they run into a burning building," he said. "It's a reaction, instinctive. You wake up from a nap and find your dog being attacked by a bear, you react." The bears, he said, were within three feet of the house.
Rob Skrypek with his dog, Duke, whom he rescued
after fighting with a bear in the back yard of his
West Milford home Friday. Skrypek suffered a separated
shoulder as he and his dog are recovering from injuries.
Dawn Benko / Daily Record
The Friday afternoon fight with a mother bear he said was about 300 to 350 pounds resulted in Skrypek's admission to Morristown Memorial Hospital were he was treated for bites, scratches and a separated shoulder. He said he expected to be away from his job as an assembly plant supervisor for four to six weeks. He said be may need further treatment because the bites appeared to have penetrated muscle.
He said on Friday, Duke, the golden retriever, had scratched at the back door to be let out in the yard surrounded by a six-foot chain-like fence, a common occurrence. But, Skrypek said, two bears, the mother and a 125-pound cub, were in the back yard. The dog attacked the mother bear.
The dog is very protective of his territory and family, Skrypek said.
When he ran into the yard, Skrypek said, he jumped on the bear's back and grabbed it around the neck in a choke hold. Duke ran into the house. The bear rolled over and Skrypek found himself under her. After a brief struggle, the bear ran through the other side of the fence, tearing it down in her scramble to escape.
"She hit it so hard it left the impression of her face in the fence," he said. The force of the bear hitting the fence popped all the aluminum ties that hold the fencing to the upright posts, he said.
The fence had been installed because bears had been seen in the neighborhood before. On Friday, the bears had apparently dug under the fence to get into the yard.
He said that his jumping atop the bear without any type of weapon was not the best thing to do, but, with two toddlers in the house, items like brooms and sticks were put away and not handy at the time.
He said he and his wife are now considering placing a box on the deck containing bear mace and an air horn. The fence will be reinforced with metal rebar driven deeper into the ground.
He returned home Sunday to a home filled with well-wishers.
State fish and game officials said Saturday they were not hunting the bear. Three similar bears has been spotted. Skrypek said he was told the state will install a trap in the neighborhood, and, if caught, the bear would be relocated.
Skrypek disputed comments attributed Sunday to environmental commissioner Bradley Campbell that suggested that Skrypek somehow provoked the attack or that the family's storage of its garbage lured the bear into the yard.
"He wasn't here to see it," Skrypek said of Campbell. Skrypek said his reaction of the presence of two bears in his yard was like that of a father as he worried about protecting his dog, Duke, who was also badly injured in the attack, and his two young children. The dog underwent surgery Saturday and is at home recovering as well.
Closed storage area
Skrypek said the family stores its garbage in sealed containers inside a closed storage area that he build a couple of years ago. The only item in the trash on Friday was some soiled baby diapers.
Trash day in the neighborhood is a Wednesday and the hauler is there between 7 and 10 a.m. Many neighbors put their trash out the night before, he said.
Generally the only animals that have tried to get into the trash previously have been raccoons, he said.
"You can hear them at night, but you can scare them away," he said.
The attack has changed his mind about a state bear hunt, Skrypek. He did not support the idea when it was first floated two years ago.
As an avid hunter, he said, he has never shot anything that he did not intend to eat.
But now, with reports of upwards of 3,000 bears in the state, he said it might be time to allow fish and game to manage the population through a hunt.
Michael Daigle can be reached at mdaigle@gannett.com or (973) 989-0652.
Daily Record (Morris County, NJ) ^ | 5-26-03 | Michael Daigle
WEST MILFORD -- In retrospect, Robert Skrypek said Sunday, jumping on the back of a black bear that was fighting with his golden retriever might not have been the best thing to do. But at the time, there was no other good option.
"It's like the reaction people have when they run into a burning building," he said. "It's a reaction, instinctive. You wake up from a nap and find your dog being attacked by a bear, you react." The bears, he said, were within three feet of the house.
Rob Skrypek with his dog, Duke, whom he rescued
after fighting with a bear in the back yard of his
West Milford home Friday. Skrypek suffered a separated
shoulder as he and his dog are recovering from injuries.
Dawn Benko / Daily Record
The Friday afternoon fight with a mother bear he said was about 300 to 350 pounds resulted in Skrypek's admission to Morristown Memorial Hospital were he was treated for bites, scratches and a separated shoulder. He said he expected to be away from his job as an assembly plant supervisor for four to six weeks. He said be may need further treatment because the bites appeared to have penetrated muscle.
He said on Friday, Duke, the golden retriever, had scratched at the back door to be let out in the yard surrounded by a six-foot chain-like fence, a common occurrence. But, Skrypek said, two bears, the mother and a 125-pound cub, were in the back yard. The dog attacked the mother bear.
The dog is very protective of his territory and family, Skrypek said.
When he ran into the yard, Skrypek said, he jumped on the bear's back and grabbed it around the neck in a choke hold. Duke ran into the house. The bear rolled over and Skrypek found himself under her. After a brief struggle, the bear ran through the other side of the fence, tearing it down in her scramble to escape.
"She hit it so hard it left the impression of her face in the fence," he said. The force of the bear hitting the fence popped all the aluminum ties that hold the fencing to the upright posts, he said.
The fence had been installed because bears had been seen in the neighborhood before. On Friday, the bears had apparently dug under the fence to get into the yard.
He said that his jumping atop the bear without any type of weapon was not the best thing to do, but, with two toddlers in the house, items like brooms and sticks were put away and not handy at the time.
He said he and his wife are now considering placing a box on the deck containing bear mace and an air horn. The fence will be reinforced with metal rebar driven deeper into the ground.
He returned home Sunday to a home filled with well-wishers.
State fish and game officials said Saturday they were not hunting the bear. Three similar bears has been spotted. Skrypek said he was told the state will install a trap in the neighborhood, and, if caught, the bear would be relocated.
Skrypek disputed comments attributed Sunday to environmental commissioner Bradley Campbell that suggested that Skrypek somehow provoked the attack or that the family's storage of its garbage lured the bear into the yard.
"He wasn't here to see it," Skrypek said of Campbell. Skrypek said his reaction of the presence of two bears in his yard was like that of a father as he worried about protecting his dog, Duke, who was also badly injured in the attack, and his two young children. The dog underwent surgery Saturday and is at home recovering as well.
Closed storage area
Skrypek said the family stores its garbage in sealed containers inside a closed storage area that he build a couple of years ago. The only item in the trash on Friday was some soiled baby diapers.
Trash day in the neighborhood is a Wednesday and the hauler is there between 7 and 10 a.m. Many neighbors put their trash out the night before, he said.
Generally the only animals that have tried to get into the trash previously have been raccoons, he said.
"You can hear them at night, but you can scare them away," he said.
The attack has changed his mind about a state bear hunt, Skrypek. He did not support the idea when it was first floated two years ago.
As an avid hunter, he said, he has never shot anything that he did not intend to eat.
But now, with reports of upwards of 3,000 bears in the state, he said it might be time to allow fish and game to manage the population through a hunt.
Michael Daigle can be reached at mdaigle@gannett.com or (973) 989-0652.
I'd better get out of here or I might get sick and deranged too! AUUUUGH!!!! IT'S ON ME!! IT'S ON MEEEEEE!! GET IT OFFF MEEEEEE!!! (runs through fence in comic fashion with limbs outstretched)
:barf: :footinmou